Sad - Passing of Norm Smith '79

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econalum
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Sad - Passing of Norm Smith '79

Post by econalum » Fri Feb 05, 2021 9:57 am

A notice from Coach this am.

"I am emailing you with a very heavy heart. Norm Smith ’79, passed away earlier this week after a long battle with a glioblastoma diagnosis. We lost a great man, a great son, a great husband, a great father, a great friend and a great teammate! Norm is the gold standard when it comes to the people whom you should look up to, whom you should emulate. Norm’s successes in every aspect of his life taught all of us to go for it, be yourself, have confidence, hit challenges head on, and to smile and laugh while doing all of it!

Besides being a one of the best midfielders ever here at UMass, Norm is an avid fan, a lacrosse Dad for Kyle, UMass ’13, and a long standing club lacrosse player (played up to 2019). He was a coach, was the greatest broadcaster for the UMass lax games, and is part of four Hall of Fames, including the UMass Hall of Fame. Norm was also a founder of the UMass Laxbackers and worked tirelessly to help UMass Lacrosse raise funds for improvements. He gave emotional as well as professional support to enhance the coaches’ and players’ experience. Norm’s selflessness towards all of us here at UMass lacrosse demonstrated why he is the ultimate Garber’s Gorilla and always will be!

We will miss Norm and extend our deepest condolences to his wife Sue and son Kyle, as well as the entire Smith family. Whenever I finished speaking to Norm, I often thought I’ve never had a conversation with him when he didn’t speak about his love for his family first, and then he would joke and say UMass Lacrosse was second. I feel blessed to know Norm, his family, and I as all of us who knew him, will cherish great memories together.

I have attached Norm’s tribute here, which is so well written by Sue and Kyle, along with the information regarding services."

https://obits.masslive.com/obituaries/m ... &fhid=2410

The Family address is:

Smith Family

94 Woolworth St

Longmeadow, MA 01106


Thank you,

Greg Cannella
Feeling entitled is JUST a feeling...

KahunaK
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Re: Sad - Passing of Norm Smith '79

Post by KahunaK » Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:45 am

Sad news. Great UMASS player-All American. I remember sitting on the hill watching him. RIP

69MG
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Re: Sad - Passing of Norm Smith '79

Post by 69MG » Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:44 am

Very sorry to hear this. I got to know Norm pretty well. He started his career with Ernst & Ernst and they were the auditors for the company I worked for. I was in my company's audit dept. so I worked with Norm a bit. When we discovered we were both UMass accounting alums it added to the friendship. His met his wife Sue while auditing our company. She worked in the personnel dept.

I had gone to a UMass - Springfield College lacrosse game in Springfield a few years earlier and still had the program with Norm's name and bio. He laughed when I brought in the program for him.

He was a good guy and he will be missed.

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econalum
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Re: Sad - Passing of Norm Smith '79

Post by econalum » Fri Feb 05, 2021 7:35 pm

i did not know him, but I highly valued his understated personality and incisive color comments during broadcasts of UMass Lax games.
Feeling entitled is JUST a feeling...

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